𝕾𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕾𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗 - [𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻]

𝐱𝐱𝐯𝐢. 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘰𝘶𝘵!

 There was a light tap on her arm, Erica.

 The young girl's brows had curled together, her eyes trained on the room swarmed with people who would kill them on sight. But she'd seen something. In the mad scramble to cower behind crates, she'd seen the very thing they needed, "I saw it." She muttered, "First floor, northwest."

 "Saw what?" Steve asked.

 "The comms room."

 "You saw the comms room?"

 "Jesus, are you a parrot?" Erica hissed, her dangling beads clinking together, "Yes. The comms room." She jutted her chin, and all eyes followed her line of sight, "The door was open for a second. I saw a bunch of lights and machines and shit."

 Steve and Dustin immediately shot her down. They exclaimed that she could have seen anything, that she had probably imagined it. Of course, Erica struggled to stop herself from wrangling both their necks... she knew what she had seen.

 Scarlet said nothing, her eyes remaining fixated on the very room Erica had pointed out. The door was made of gleaming metal, much like the rest of the damned place, so there was absolutely no way to see through, no way to take a peek. But what else did they have?

 They couldn't wander and search for a room to hide away within. They couldn't just take their time. They couldn't turn tail and head back to the elevator — they'd been lucky enough not to get caught already.

 So, if all they had was a potential safety net spied by a ten-year-old... then they'd have to take that chance.

 Scarlet nodded, unaware of the eyes on her back. They'd gone silent behind her, waiting with bated breath to see what she thought; Steve and Dustin knew that her decision would be the one they followed. They trusted her, and they knew that if things truly went awry... she'd be their only chance of survival.

 "It's the best we have."

 Steve knew she'd say it. He knew she'd take the only glimmer of hope they had, and yet he still couldn't scramble to bite his tongue, "Seriously? We don't even know if it actually is a comms room!"

 There was a surge of pain as Scarlet clamped her teeth together, "What do you suggest then?" Scarlet knew there was no use in giving into the terror within her, for all that would manifest was nothing but pure anger... but as she looked at her group, the youthful faces of two kids looking to her for answers. Robin, who was still entirely in the dark about everything...

 "Shall we wait here?" She added, unable to stop, "Shall we go back to the elevator? Should we just — I don't know — hop out and give ourselves over, Steve?" His face had fallen, and guilt already doused the fire within her gut while her eyes stooped to the ground, "Look, I don't know what else we can do."

 Steve wanted to argue, he always did but what was there to say? It felt like the tunnels around him were no longer made of metal and pipes, but rather vines and spores. This was the same fight they'd had before; they both wanted to save those around them, yet neither could agree with the other's method.

 Only this time, Steve didn't have a plan of his own.

 So he relented. His chin dropped, hair falling to his eyes, "Yeah, right, right. Okay, comms room, then. Let's go."

 Steve took a moment, swallowing a hearty breath that chilled his throat. He could feel the slight buzz of adrenaline cover his skin like a sheen of sweat, coating his shoulders like a blanket. His fingers shook, yet still he patted Dustin's shoulder, eyes moving to Erica. He had to make sure that they were okay first, "We're gonna move fast, and we're gonna stay low, okay?"